Pubblicazione e condivisione di foto sui social network: la tutela del minore fra diritto all’immagine e protezione dei dati personali

Abstract

While, on the one hand, social networks are a very effective means of personal promotion and, consequently, of defining one’s image and social reputation, on the other, they expose users, and children in particular, to new risks. Children and adolescents, once they have grown up and become young-adults, run the risk of being confronted with an already existing “digital identity” which they may not recognize or with which they may not identify. This contribution aims to carry out some reflections on this subject, starting from the provisions contained in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted in 1989 and in the European Convention on Human Rights adopted in 1950, in order to assess whether or not the provisions contained in the General Data Protection Regulation (EU Regulation 2016/679) offer adequate answers for the protection of the right to one’s image and the right to protection of the personal data of children. These rights constitute different aspects of children’s personal identity, resulting instrumental in realizing the right to build relationships in an autonomous and conscious way, without suffering alterations of their individual identity.